FuN FaCtZ!

January 21, 2016
Happy New Year, y'all!

So here's a funny, and TRUE, story. Have you every worn a pair of sneakers with your tuxedo, while singing a live symphony concert?.....and gotten away with it?!?!? Well, so.... It was the afternoon of the performance in Ohio, and the venue was about a 40-minute drive from the hotel in which the organization had me staying. I had grabbed my tux (which was in its suit bag) along with my backpack which (I thought) held my socks, shoes, accessories, music, and whatever else I might need, and headed for the venue. Well, low and behold, with 30 minutes before the orchestra downbeat, I'm at the theater, and I'm getting into my tux, et al., and realized that I had completely forgotten my shiny tuxedo shoes. Oops!! There was clearly NO TIME to go back to the hotel. At that moment, I frantically searched high and low, finding out that no musician, singer or otherwise, brings an extra pair of shiny, size-12 tux shoes. LOL.....What?? Are ya kiddin'?? Who doesn't bring an extra, shiny, size-12 pair of tux shoes to a concert?? C'mon man!! Oh, jeez... So, I looked at what I had worn on my feet to get to the venue that afternoon, and there laid a pair of black leather, black-laced Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars staring up at me right in the face, white rubber soles/toes and all. And I thought, "Pffff, what the heck?!" I walked confidently on stage in my beautiful tux and "matching" shoes and gave one of the best performances of my life! Those shoes even prompted me to pull my jacket off, remove my cuff links, and roll up my shirt sleeves when I sang Billy Bigelow's, "Soliloquy," from the musical, Carousel. Those of you who know the piece will understand why it all worked out pretty darn well! The maestro even commented after the piece and said, "Well folks, what a treat to have the real Billy Bigelow, in the flesh, on stage with us today!"

PS There may, or may not, be a photo of said "ensemble" in the Media/Photos/Personal page ;)

July 4, 2014
Hey there!

Today is Independence Day. One of my favorite childhood memories growing up in Greeley, Colorado is spending time with the Pfund family. The Pfunds are incredible people. They are a family of 4. Each of them is a professional and phenomenal musician, and each of them is incredibly close with our family for reasons I'll not go into here. Anyway, their family of 4 and our family of 4 would always get together on July 4th. We would usually go to the rodeo that makes itself prevalent for 2 weeks in our town of Greeley during this time of year, and then we would ALWAYS go to one of our homes and grill burgers and crank out homemade ice cream. Those of you who know about, and have taken part in the making of this type of ice cream will understand why it's a lasting memory. Is there anything better?!

Dec 3, 2013

Hi!

My name is Greg. For as long as I can remember, I've introduced myself not as "Gregory," but only by the first 4 letters of that name. For some reason, my school mates from grade school through high school made fun of my full name, especially when it was called for class attendance (ugh!), so I was bound and determined to be introduced and addressed solely as, "Greg." When I graduated with my Bachelor's degree, I was selected by Glimmerglass Opera to join their Young American Artist Program. In the first week, the admin informed me that I needed to choose, and stick with a "professional name." After the heartache of back-and-forth debating of exactly how I should present my first name, if it should be the full "Gregory," or if it should just be "Greg," and then deciding if I should incorporate my middle name, or just the initial, or not, bla, bla, bla...I ended up going with my full first name, coupled with my last. Then the professional therapy began (just kidding...)!! And there you go.